Super Bowl a super dream for Browns

Steve Doerschuk

Saturday

Dec 29, 2007 at 12:01 AMDec 29, 2007 at 10:46 AM

Is it worth hyperventilating over the Browns’ Sunday of the Century? Probably not. Even if they beat the 49ers today and get a break tonight, they’re doomed to the knowledge no 10-6 team has ever won a Super Bowl. On the other hand, who can deny the fun to be had in getting out of the regular season alive after almost everybody in June pronounced them dead in the water?

Is it worth hyperventilating over the Browns’ Sunday of the Century?

Probably not.

Even if they beat the 49ers today and get a break tonight, they’re doomed to the knowledge no 10-6 team has ever won a Super Bowl.

On the other hand, who can deny the fun to be had in getting out of the regular season alive after almost everybody in June pronounced them dead in the water?

The Sporting News hit them straight in the mouth, forecasting a 3-13 year. Sports Illustrated put a suck-up preface (“a superb draft and some savvy offseason pickups ...”) on a bottom-line chops-buster, calling it a 5-11 year.

Yet here they are, going on 10-6, needing only a Titans loss at Indianapolis in the 8:15 game to earn a wild card. If that ship comes in, they’ll fly to San Diego or bus to Pittsburgh.

Cleveland’s playoff game could be Saturday or Sunday. League officials have told the Browns the day will be declared this evening, possibly before the Titans-Colts game kicks off. It’s simply a matter of filling in the blank.

The impossible dream is to win four postseason games as a wild card and be Super Bowl champs. Phil Savage was with Baltimore when the Ravens did that in 2000, albeit getting in with a 12-4 record.

Browns players all say there is a point to getting in.

“We have a team ready to roll,” Pro Bowl alternate Eric Steinbach said. “That’s why the San Francisco game is so important.

“Get a win. Go in with momentum. If we get in there a little but under the radar, it’ll be nice.”

Steinbach played for the 2005 AFC North champion Bengals, who lost a first-round game to the wild-card Steelers, who wound up 4-0 in the postseason and winning Super Bowl XL.

Linebacker Chaun Thompson joined the Browns in 2003. He was on teams that went 19-45 before this year’s awakening.

“I think we’re a sleeper,” Thompson said. “Everybody thinks that because we won a few games in the end, it’s a fluke.

“People will be thinking, they’ve never been here before ... it’ll be the old Browns. But we’ll come in with a whole different attitude. If we get in, we’ll be a force to reckon with.”

Like Thompson, safety Sean Jones was a Round 2 pick in the Butch Davis era. Like Thompson, he doesn’t want to waste a first playoff taste.

“I know (today’s) game doesn’t mean anything if we win or lose,” Jones said, “but we don’t want to go into a playoff game with a loss. We’ve got to take care of San Francisco.

“I think we’re a playoff team. If we get there I think we’re gonna be a force to be reckoned with.”

A more recent Round 2 pick, linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, notes that the Browns would begin the 2007 postseason with the same record as the Patriots, 0-0.

“It’s a fresh slate,” Jackson said. “You get to start over.”

The Browns, though, would have to win next week to move on to New England, which has a first-round bye. Based on history, this would be one of those playoff seasons in which a team was happy just to be there, with the intent of becoming a postseason force the next year.

“Against San Francisco, we’re gonna try to play our best game this year,” wideout Braylon Edwards said. “If it is our best game, we gave it everything we have. We did what the city wanted. We fought strong. We had a 10-win season. We finished on a good note.

“If it’s a situation where Tennessee loses ... we have some momentum going into the playoffs.”

Playoffs. Playoffs?

Is there any question that getting in is better than sitting out? The final Sunday turned into one huge question mark when the Browns failed to win at Cincinnati. A win there would have clinched a wild-card berth.